Tag: art

This is another one of those albums I bought mainly because of the album cover. Sure, I had heard other songs by Supertramp; I already owned “Breakfast in America” and “Crime of the Century”. Although they were a couple of my favorite albums, I really wasn’t looking for another Supertramp album. My record collection wasn’t that big, and when it comes to music, I like to have some variety. But then I saw the cover of “Crisis? What Crisis?”.

Rows of houses bordering on a gray and decrepit landscape of industrial factories spewing pollution into the air. Yet here is this guy absolutely determined to make the best of his situation. Among the crushed concrete and other debris that makes up his back yard, there he sits in his beach chair wearing swim trunks and sunglasses, under a bright yellow umbrella. Nearby is a table with a glass of his favorite mixed drink and a portable radio playing his favorite station. Ahhhh, this is the life.

The artwork spoke to me not only of always making the best of a bad situation, but also of never giving up; always striving for that place in the sun. Personally, I rank it as one of the best album covers of all time.

Alice Cooper was a band, and later a solo artist (but that’s another story I already talked about earlier) that was known not only for their music, but also for their stage theatrics. To record collectors, they are also known for some pretty cool album packaging – an art form that totally lost its impact with the smaller CD format.Billion Dollar Babies was a prime example.

Alice Cooper’s sixth album was styled to look like an oversized alligator skin wallet. Stored inside it was an oversized billion dollar bill that featured the band’s picture in the center. Also, the inside left side of the gatefold cover was perforated so you could punch out trading card sized cards of the band. The album credits were hidden behind the punch-outs.

The album theme was focused around the band’s amazement that in only a couple of years, they had gone from being a totally broke and struggling band to one of the most successful acts in rock and roll at that time. The album packaging was one of the most unique and memorable by Alice Cooper, or any other band, yet it was not their most iconic (but that’s another story I will talk about sometime later).

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